'Reverse parenting' has adults relaxing while kids do after-school chores — and experts approve

In many households across China, the traditional roles of parents and children are being flipped, and the internet can’t get enough of it. A growing trend known as 'reverse parenting' is going viral, where kids are now taking over responsibilities at home while parents kick back and relax. For example, Yuanyuan, a young boy from Liaoning province, has become a social media sensation by filming his daily routines with a small camera clipped to his shirt, as reported by the South China Morning Post. 

He wakes up at 5 a.m. several times a week to walk neighborhood dogs for a small fee, then heads to school. After class, instead of rushing home to relax, he calls his mom to ask what she’d like for dinner, goes grocery shopping, bargains with vendors, pays in cash, and prepares full meals, sometimes even braised prawns or pork ribs with vegetables. Meanwhile, his mom usually lounges at home, watching TV, waiting for him to call her to the dinner table.

Yuanyuan’s mom says she’s proud of how independent and responsible he is. He even helps her pick outfits and does her makeup, lifting her mood when she’s down. His story has inspired many, with people online calling him the perfect example of this new parenting style. And it’s not just Yuanyuan. A video that went viral earlier this year showed a four-year-old boy scolding his parents for lying in bed all day while he cleaned the house by himself.  Fed up, he told them he couldn’t take it anymore and called out their laziness, to which they jokingly replied that they relied on him because he’s so capable. 

In another case, a seven-year-old girl now plans all her family’s trips, from booking flights to making day-by-day itineraries, after her mom messed up a return flight last year, leaving them stuck at an airport. The girl no longer trusts adults with important tasks and does her own travel research online.

This trend, is in fact, expert-approved.  Zhang Jianyong, a child social worker from Central China, says that while this trend may seem funny, it’s also building independence in kids. Showing a little 'weakness' as a parent can actually motivate children to be more proactive and take initiative.

Social media is full of examples like these. One parent even shared how she copied her son’s slow morning routine to prove a point. When she took an hour to get dressed, he got frustrated and rushed her, and since then, he’s never been slow again. Adding to the trend, a recent story featured in The Daily Net highlighted how tech-savvy kids are now flipping the script in other ways, too. Instead of sneaking out and hiding things from their parents, some teens are using location-sharing apps to track their parents’ movements, a trend jokingly called “fambushing.” It’s all in good fun, of course, but it shows how kids are finding clever ways to take control, sometimes even becoming the nosy ones at home. All of this paints a clear picture that today’s kids aren’t just growing up, but they’re stepping up. Whether it’s managing chores, planning travel, or teasing their parents with tech tricks, they’re becoming more capable and confident.